Thursday, September 18, 2025

On Wednesday, Little Falls Community High School held a practice evacuation drill where all students and many staff members were bused to Camp Ripley for the day. This was a drill to work on removing all from the building in case of fire, disasters or safety precautions that would have to be done in case of a crisis. High School were taken to Camp Ripley were resources, education activities and some usual criteria were then done inside the military base as their designated reunification site. Then students were returned to the school for their regular dismissal time. This was part of the Standard Response Protocol to help prepare students and staff to respond quickly and safely during a crisis situation. Thank you for all who helped in working for a successful drill for students and staff on Wednesday. 

The Minnesota State Patrol reported a two vehicle accident with injuries last night at 5:51pm on Highway 27 in Pike Creek Township of Morrison County. 34-year-old Elise Baum of Swanville was on 27 and slowed for a left turn when a vehicle rear-ended her driven by a 54-year-old from Brainerd. Baum and her 5 year old passenger were taken to St. Gabriel's Hospital for injuries, a 3 year old in the vehicle was not hurt. The other driver was also not injured in the accident. 

One person was critically injured yesterday afternoon just after 3pm on Highway 371 at Pequot Lakes in Crow Wing County. 91-year-old John Thoele of Nisswa reportedly turned in front of an oncoming vehicle at County Road 107 onto 371 and collided. Thoele was taken to the Brainerd hospital with injuries. The other vehicle was driven by at 16-year-old who was not injured. The teens two passengers a 68-year-old from Pine River was taken to Brainerd hospital with serious injuries and an 89-year-old from Oregon was airlifted to St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth with reportedly life threatening injuries from the accident. 

One person was hurt in a crash near St. Joseph on Wednesday morning. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, a car being driven by 72-year-old John Citrowske of Alexandria, and a minivan being driven by 29-year-old Kayla Severson of Cold Spring were both going north on Highway 23 at about 9:00 a.m. when they crashed. Citrowske was taken to the St. Cloud Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Severson was not hurt in the crash.

A 32-year-old Minnesota man faces federal charges for allegedly creating and distributing hundreds of videos depicting animal torture and killing through pay-per-view YouTube channels. According to an indictment, Bryan Wesley Edison was indicted on 16 counts of animal crushing and made his initial court appearance following the announcement. The charges fall under the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act (PACT Act), which expanded federal animal cruelty laws in 2019. The act makes it unlawful to purposely engage in animal “crushing,” defined as crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impaling, or otherwise causing serious bodily injury to living mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians. The charges stem from alleged activities dating back to 2022. The Carver man allegedly posted nearly 350 videos showing animals, including birds, hamsters, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, lizards, dogs, and snapping turtles, being subjected to prolonged torture. The alleged methods included impalement, crushing, drowning, suffocating, and dismemberment. Prosecutors allege Edison would place live animals in artificial enclosures such as playpens, bathtubs, and showers, sometimes costuming the animals or creating “scenarios” for the alleged torture. He allegedly narrated many of the videos with commentary describing the animals’ suffering. The operation allegedly included a tiered subscription model with membership levels ranging from $0.99 to $99.99 per month, with the highest tier providing access to custom-commissioned content. Edison’s channels, including “Prince’s Pet Planet” and “Prince’s Chomp Squad,” were eventually removed by YouTube for policy violations.

Central MN Take Back the Night will bring together anti-domestic violence advocates from across the region on October 2nd for a high-profile event in downtown St. Cloud. Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center Volunteer Coordinator Bri Cornell is a member of the event’s planning committee. She says it kicks off at about 5:30 p.m. with area organizations tabling at Eastman Park and Lake George. The most powerful portion of the program starts about 45 minutes later. “6:15-ish, we will start the rally portion, where we’ll have some speakers. We will read names of people who have unfortunately passed due to domestic violence or sexual violence, and then, around 7:00 p.m., we will start the march portion.” The keynote speaker has dedicated her life to help end domestic violence. Cornell talks about the impact of Rebecca Kotz, a former member of her group. “When she was employed with the sexual assault center, she helped create the first Safe Harbor program for survivors of trafficking and then the first accountability program for male offenders of sexual exploitation here in central Minnesota.” Kotz was also the director of the St. Cloud State University Women’s Center. She is a consultant, writer, and relationship coach on the subject. The final portion is the march. It will go throughout the downtown area. The event is hosted by the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center, Central Minnesota Advocacy Center, Sex and Relationship Self Advocacy, Anna Marie’s Alliance, Zonta, and others. Other groups around Minnesota are also planning events for Central MN Take Back the Night scheduled around the same day on October 2nd. 

Fall color is coming significantly earlier than in past years, with areas not far from St. Cloud already at 50% of peak. Most state park results on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Fall Color Finder page were updated over the weekend, including Charles Lindbergh State Park in Little Falls. As of the 14th, it was seeing a near full turn in grasses and brush, with leaves at least a quarter changed. Similar progress is estimated throughout Morrison County and into the northern parts of Stearns and Benton County, down to Le Sauk Township and Rice. The zone is the farthest south where the transition is so far along. You can also find about half of peak color shining on trees in the Taylors Falls area along the St. Croix River. Most of the northern portion of the state is also well on its way. Lake Maria State Park in Sherburne County is only 10-25% changed. Western Stearns County has just begun. This week’s near-record temperatures should slow things down, at least temporarily. Plenty of rain this summer and sunny, dry days to kick off fall is a practically perfect combination for spectacular color. The band is tuned up, and the show is about to start. The fall finder for peak colors can be found at this DNR link https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fall_colors/index.html.

Events going on tonight include Chicks for Bricks fundraiser at Zion Lutheran Church from 5-8pm full chicken and ham dinner with all the fixings for $15 suggested donation also take out boxes are available at the church with the proceeds going to help pay for the fellowship addition. A free concert at Living Hope Church is tonight with Heather Layne on Celebrating recovery is at 6:30pm at the church north on Haven Road. More events this weekend can be found at fallsradio.com and click on community calendar. 

Death Notices- Jeannie Janski Morgan of Little Falls area passed away August 9th. 

Weather- today cloudy skies, scattered showers and thunderstorms at times, high 71, showers likely tonight some heavy rains low 59. Friday showers and storms likely, some heavy rains at times, high 68, more rain possible Friday low 57. Saturday cloudy, some showers and storms at times, high 72, low around 54. More sunshine on Sunday but still isolated PM showers and storms, high 74, low around 55. Monday mostly sunny skies, high near 77, low around 58, thunderstorms possible at night. 

Sports- Yankees beat the Twins 10-5 to take the series last night in Minneapolis. The Twins have today off before hosting Cleveland Friday night, there is a day/night double header for the Twins and Guardians planned on Saturday and this is the final home series of the 2025 season for the Twins. The Lynx come back and beat Golden State last night 75-74 in California after a horrible first half the Lynx outscore the Valkyries 26-11 down the stretch to win by 1 and take the series 2-0 to move on to the second round of the WNBA playoffs. Phoenix beat New York 86-60 last night to tie their series at 1, game 3 is Friday night the winner will take on the Lynx Sunday afternoon in game 1 of the 2nd round in Minneapolis. Miami and Buffalo play in the Thursday Night Football game in the NFL starts at 6:30pm on AM960 KLTF and fallsradio.com.